11/16/2008 at 18:24

Timeline of Selected Rights in North America, France, and England

There IS a point to this, and in a day or so you’ll see what it is.

It came about because I was troubled by and thinking about something one of my oldest friends said. And since research is my reflexive response to nearly any form of brain activity, I did some research.

I looked for a chronological progression of major groups’ human rights under law—and couldn’t find any. They were fragmented into a dozen different lists.

So I bloody well made my own.

It isn’t comprehensive, but I intend to keep updating and expanding it.

Those rights for which I could find listings or information are here. Each right is listed only once (not once per country).

Only the entire country first granting national rights that it did not later revoke is listed (states and territories are not).

References to the actual documentary or proclamatory grant of right are only listed where I could confirm them.

Human Equality Under the Law

1215 AD. England. Male members of the nobility have rights that even the king can’t overrule. (Magna Carta.)

1839. Britain. Mothers can be the guardians of their children after a divorce. (Custody of Infants Act 1839.)

1859. Canada. Married women can own property in their own names.

1863. United States. The military service of former slaves and free men of color is acknowledged and formalized. (A separate Army department for “Colored Troops” is formed.)

1868. United States. Women are allowed to study if they wish to and if a school will admit them.1868. United States. All persons born in the US, including freed slaves and people of color, are citizens. (Fourteenth Amendment.)1868. United States. All citizens have the right to due process and equal protection of the laws. (Fourteenth Amendment.)

1985. France. It’s illegal to deny employment or services based on sexual orientation.

1988. United States. Recipients of federal funds must comply with civil rights laws in all areas, not just in the particular program or activity that received federal funding. (Civil Rights Restoration Act.)

1994. Canada. Asylum is granted to homosexuals fearing for their safety in their home countries.1994. United States. Programs aimed at “converting” GLBT men and women lose medical backing. (The American Medical Association denounces therapies “based upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientation.”)1994. United States. Heavier sentences mandated in convictions resulting from federal prosecution of hate crimes committed on the basis of a person's race, color, religion, or nation origin when engaging in a federally protected activity. (USC: Title 28 §994.)

1997. Britain. Same-sex couples have the same immigration rights as opposite-sex couples.

1999. France. Same-sex couples can have recognized civil unions.

2000. Britain. Openly gay individuals are no longer banned from serving in the armed forces.